The sun: what a star!

( Updated: 08/28/2014 )

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People crowd a bridge that goes over 42nd Street as they take photos of the 'Manhattanhenge' phenomenon in the Manhattan borough of New York on July 11, 2014. Manhattanhenge, coined by astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson, occurs twice a year, when the setting sun aligns itself with the east-west grid of streets in Manhattan. Carlo Allegri/Reuters

The bright light of a solar flare on the left side of the sun and an eruption of solar material shooting through the sun’s atmosphere, called a prominence eruption, appear in this NASA image taken June 20, 2013. The sun heats up its atmosphere to millions of degrees, sending off rivers of particles that define the boundaries of the solar system. NASA/SDO/Reuters

Comet ISON travels from the bottom right toward the upper right, getting fainter and fainter, in this time-lapse image from the ESA/NASA Solar and Heliospheric Observatory. The sun is at the center of the image. ESA/NASA/SOHO/SDO/GSFC

There's no sign of comet ISON in this image of the sun taken Nov. 28, 2013. During a meeting of the American Geophysical Union meeting scientists said the comet broke apart on Thanksgiving after coming close to the sun. NASA/AP

NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) captured an image of a magnetic filament of solar material erupting as a 200,000-mile-long filament ripped through the sun's atmosphere, the corona, leaving behind what looks like a canyon of fire. The eruption occurred Sept. 29-30, 2013. The glowing canyon traces the channel where magnetic fields held the filament aloft before the explosion. In reality, the sun is made, not of fire, but of plasma – particles so hot that their electrons have boiled off, creating a charged gas that is interwoven with magnetic fields. NASA/Solar Dynamics Observatory/Reuters

The sun sets on the minarets and the Great Pyramids of Giza in Old Cairo, Egypt, on Dec., 2013. Amr Abdallah Dalsh/Reuters

A blast of plasma streams from the sun on August, 2012. NASA/AP

Steam rises from water in sub-zero temperatures as the morning sun shines through the trees at Giant Springs State Park in Great Falls, Mont., on Feb., 2014. Larry Beckner/The Great Falls Tribune/AP

Magnetic loops on the sun are seen on July 19, 2012. A series of loops such as these are known as a flux rope, and they are at the heart of eruptions on the sun known as coronal mass ejections. NASA/Goddard Space Flight Center/SDO/Reuters

From Hong Kong, the planet Venus appears as a black dot transiting across the face of the sun, June 8, 2004. It's rare for Venus to pass directly between the sun and Earth. It won' happen again until 2117. Bobby Yip/Reuters

The Turanor PlanetSolar, the world's largest solar-powered boat, travels on the Seine river in Epinay-sur-Seine, near Paris, on Sept., 2013, after completing the first solar-powered trip around the world in 584 days. Benoit Tessier/Reuters

Comet Lovejoy leaves the sun's corona Dec. 15, 2011. Comet Lovejoy survived a close brush with the sun, where temperatures hit several million degrees. Astronomers had tracked 2,000 other sun-grazing comets making the same trip. None had ever survived. NASA's Solar Dynamics Observatory/AP

The sun casts a shadow and spectral halo effect on clouds as US Secretary of State John Kerry's aircraft departs from Tel Aviv for Geneva, Switzerland, on Nov., 2013. Jason Reed/Reuters

The sun erupts with one of the largest solar flares of this solar cycle, on March 6, 2012. This flare was categorized as an X5.4, making it the second-largest flare – after an X6.9 on Aug. 9, 2011. The current increase in the number of X-class flares is part of the sun's normal 11-year cycle, during which activity ramps up to solar maximum. NASA/SD0/AIA/Reuters

A partially eclipsed sun is seen from Juba, Sudan, on Nov. 3, 2013. Skywatchers across the world were in for a treat as the final solar eclipse of 2013 took on a rare hybrid form. Goran Tomasevic/Reuters

The sun unleashed an M2 (medium-size) solar flare with a substantial coronal mass ejection, on June 7, 2011. The large cloud of plasma mushroomed up, and most of it rushed off into space (some fell back into the sun). When viewed in the STEREO (Ahead) coronagraphs, the event shows a very bright plasma cloud roaring from the sun. SOHO/NASA

Solar flares, among the solar system's mightiest eruptions, are tremendous explosions in the sun's atmosphere that are capable of releasing as much energy as 1 billion megatons of TNT. Solar ejections are often associated with flares and sometimes occur soon after the flare explosion. Coronal mass ejections are clouds of electrified, magnetic gas, weighing billions of tons, ejected from the sun and hurled into space with speeds ranging from 12 to 1,250 miles per second. Earth-directed coronal mass ejections cause magnetic storms by interacting with the Earth's magnetic field, distorting its shape, and accelerating electrically charged particles (electrons and atomic nuclei) trapped within. Severe solar weather is often heralded by dramatic auroral displays, northern and southern lights, and magnetic storms that occasionally affect satellites, radio communications, and power systems. SOHO Project/NASA's Goddard Space Flight Center

The sun, almost spotless, may have reached solar minimum in 2007. Scientists watched for the first spot of the new solar cycle to appear. The 11-year-long solar cycle is marked by two extremes: solar minimum and solar maximum. Solar minimum is the period of least solar activity. During this time, sunspot and solar flare activity diminishes, and often does not occur for days. NASA/AP

A spectacular eruption on the sun's surface Oct.28, 2003, sent charged particles hurling toward Earth. This image was taken with the Extreme ultraviolet Imaging Telescope (EIP) aboard the SOHO (Solar and Heliospheric Observatory) satellite. The telescope is sensitive to extreme ultraviolet light, resulting in the green hue. NASA/AP